Doc

No doubt about it, there certainly are a lot of self deluded people around ..... lol. I prefer the video evidence to somebody's undocumented boasting. Now, I have seen a video of a guy who was doing some pretty amazing 100 yard shots with a compound. I also have seen filmed trick shots by Howard hill with his longbow. I also attended a live show with Stacey Groscup shooting aspirins out of the air with his recurve and nailing all kinds of other flying targets out of the air. And we have all seen Byron Fergusen on TV doing things with bows that 99.99% of all archers can't do. So I know there are a few very talented archers. However, I suspect the shooting on the PSE crossbow video most likely had more to do with the equipment than any kind of Byron Fergusen type of talent.

Unfortunately, that rub is in the middle of a very big hill and he is pretty darn good about not leaving a track or anything. For me, rubs are exciting, but seldom have I ever had them lead me to any close encounters. It always seems that by the time hunting season rolls around, they have re-located to somewhere else. But it is always better to at least know there is a buck somewhere in the area. It makes the wait on stand a little more interesting.

And yet it is no real trick to find many of videos like the one that was posted here. Amazing isn't it?

http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/5169-first-rubs/

If you do succumb to the "gotta havits", just make sure you don't get rid of the old bow. It sounds like you already own a perfectly good deer killing machine, so it is always good to be able to go back in case something ugly happens with the new bow.

I wonder if anyone has ever done any kind of study to see just what the cost/income ratio really is regarding the put and take pheasant stocking program. Apparently the costs are significant enough that they were talking about shutting down some of the pheasant rearing facilities. So I wonder how the costs compare to the revenues generated. Just curious.

I have been around archery for a bunch of decades, and have even done a fair share of tournament shooting, but I have never been able to shoot 100 yards with the precision that that guy with the PSE crossbow did. In fact, I really don't know anyone who can even come close to shooting that far, that well. About the closest person I have ever known to shoot that well with a vertical bow would be Darrell Pace at 100 meters. I would lay a lot of credit for that kind of crossbow accuracy to the fact that he is able to bench rest his crossbow. Whether that is accomplished with shooting off a bench as he was doing, or off a bi-pod, or off a fallen log, or simply off your knee as in a kneeling or sitting stance, it is something that no vertical bow shooter will ever be able to do. And of course give some credit to the fact that he can use a rifle scope in conjunction with the rock-solid rest features. As far as the noise factor, the growing number of crossbow hunts being shown on TV are beginning to show that that is not really a very huge factor. If I had to point to one big drawback to a crossbow, it would be the awkwardness of walking around with a big heavy "T"-shaped weapon. That has to be a pain.

This stinking weather has put a crimp in my practice regimen. It's pretty sloppy out there. But maybe it's a good thing not to shoot too much. With my luck, i'll just break something....lol.

I think you're the only one who can make the decision for you. I tend to be in the camp that says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But then I am known to be a little bit tight with my money. There's no doubt that technology has made progress in the last decade, but I have bows on my wall that date back to the 70's that have killed deer just as dead as the most teched-out version on the market today. I suspect that you are just getting an itch to spend some money and get something that you won't be kidded about ..... lol. I've certainly been there, and I have a wall full of thousands of dollars worth of bows, arrows and tackle to show for it. If you want it and have the extra money to spend ...... buy something and get that out of your system. However, just acknowledge that you are getting it because you just want it. I wouldn't spend a whole lot of time trying to justify it ..... just do it! Besides, the economy could use your help.

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, but a good book on deer biology and management is White-tailed Deer - Ecology and Management by the Wildlife Management Institute, published by Stackpole Books, Cameron & Kelker Streets, harrisburg, PA. It is starting to get a bit dated now as my copy is over 20 years old. There are probably a lot of books that are more up-to-date. However, this book has almost 1000 pages of biological and management studies and articles by some of the leading researchers that form a lot of the background data for modern day knowledge and management techniques. Some of this may fall under the category of what you called, "a biology sleeper book" I don't know. It all depends on where your interests lie. If you are near a good big library, you might want to go and take a look at it.

So, what's a pheasant? The last one that I've seen here in the valley was back in the late 60's and early 70's. We just simply don't have them anymore since most of the farms have started to grow over into woods.

Yeah, I think I'm one of those guys. I wouldn't know a 120" from a 200". All I know is whether it's a "big one" or not. I've never been too big on using numbers to judge the quality of a deer. They either impress me or they don't. Of course you won't hear me spouting off estimated live measurements either. Just not my thing.

I think we all rely on the pieces of information that we read and hear when conducting discussions on this forum. There probably is a lot of logic that is relied on too. So there always is some level of understanding. I really don't think we have a lot of trained whitetail biologists here (do we have any?), but we sure do have a whole lot of opinions. So we have to be a little careful about what kinds of standards we are going to demand of anyone who posts an opinion here or this place will get real quiet, real quick. The same thing is true when hunters discuss issues in other places, and even when those discussions take place with the DEC. I don't think any of that is hampering good management practices. I expect the managers (DEC) to apply what they have learned when they are accepting hunter input. That's part of their job too. However, I will say that what you are saying is quite true when hunters (or anyone) begin to bypass the DEC and try to force game management practices through legislators. That can have a negative effect on game management in a very big way. That absolutely is a way that uneducated people begin to make serious negative impacts on game management. However, simple casual talk among hunters or on forums is really quite harmless and not really anything to get very excited about whether it strictly represents educated credibility or not.

Lol..... even more interesting is how did a a thread about "Hunting Mature Deer" turn into a discussion on using recurves?

I have a couple of blocks of just plain old beeswax and it seems to do a very good job of conditioning strings and making them pretty much moisture-proof.

I remember going to work. I used to do that.

It really is a terrible thing for people living in that area. I get some flooding problems occasionally, but it is really minor compared to what has been going on in areas of the northeast this year. My flooding amounts to having my driveway sealed off for a few hours ata time and happens maybe once or twice a year. Yup, a real pain in the neck, but nothing that threatens our buildings or our lives. I hope the impact over there remains minimum from this 2nd round of rain.

Sounds like it's not a significant population problem unless you happen to hunt in an area where one of these outbreaks occurs. 100 cases in one town in only 2 weeks..... that sounds like a pretty big deal if I was trying to hunt there, especially if those 100 cases are clustered into a small area of that town.

I would opt for "fooling yourself". I don't know, but I'm thinking that pronouncing words using your ass might be a bit more than anyone can actually do. I'll bet saying anything with "T" in it would be real tough. Anybody who can actually do that would be a hit on that TV show, America's Got Talent

And as another mystery, what is that thing glowing on the tree in the background?

I would think that anyone who invents a practical alternative fuel, or products that run on practical alternative fuel sources would be so stinking rich that they would find it difficult to store all their money. I'm sure that revenues and/or royalties from such a discovery would far surpass the Bill Gates empire. I also know that money is a powerful motivator. So we really shouldn't need any further incentives should we? So the question of the day/year/century is, "why hasn't it happened yet?" The answer that comes to mind is the "practical" part of that miracle invention. There is no shortage of ideas for alternative energy, but most of it is so darned far out that no one can afford to pay for it. So it turns out to be an invention that may not be so easy to come by. As to the question of Americans being addicted to fossil fuels, I have to say that hardly any Americans really are addicted to fossil fuels, it is just that there is no alternative. If you really want to run any of the items of our lifestyle, it takes energy to do so. Right now, even as expensive as it is getting, petroleum is the super bargain for powering anything. Nothing else is even in the running. It has nothing to do with an American love affair with petroleum. The products and inventions simply are not there and the few that pop up are priced beyond the range of widespread acceptance or have other impracticalities. Oh, and by the way, don't invest all your hopes in wind farms. Profits in that industry are only possible through massive government subsidies and those are not temporary start-up gifts. Plus, even with all the massive investments in "wind farms across the nation, I am still waiting to hear of a single refinery or nuclear power plant that has been shut down and replaced by windmills.

It's true, the average hunter approaches hunting as just one of a whole array of recreational activities. I suspect that darn few of them have any time to go off and get a degree in biology specializing in whitetails....lol. I really don't expect anymore than that from any hunter. It is a form of recreation, and is supposed to be an enjoyable pastime, and a degree in whitetail biology is not required or expected. That's why we leave the management decisions to the DEC who supposedly hires college trained individuals to work out the proper management techniques and apply them in practice and in law. I think that the DEC most likely takes that into account when they solicit hunter opinions and forms their management decisions. Sure, some of those hunter opinions carry some weight because part of what they do is to manage the hunter part of our natural resources. So it is important that they understand what hunters need to continue to participate. It's up to the DEC to try to balance hunter needs along with the needs of natural resources. It's the same thing they are trying to do with the rest of the states population when they get the different interests involved in the CTFs. Everybody gets their say. It's up to the DEC to take in all this input and make it all come out as a set of compromises that we all can live with and still have a thriving natural world. I think it works out pretty darn good for the most part. I know I don't lose any sleep over the fact that there are hunters out there that are speaking their minds (right or wrong), and I really don't feel they are doing any significant damage by doing so even in cases where they are absolutely wrong. They are just doing what people do. And who knows, maybe sometimes they really do get it right and coerce the DEC to look a bit closer at their methods and results.

I often wonder if the coyotes can break up deer patterns, and also make them more "spooky" than they otherwise would be. It seems possible that even if they are having no significant impact on the number of deer, they still might be a pain when it comes to deer hunting. I haven't seen a whole lot written on exactly how coyotes and deer interact. I have heard stories of coyotes crossing fields that have deer feeding in them and neither critter paying any attention to the other.......so, I don't know.

Questions of this nature where I suspect that I might get opinion rather than an explicit written law, I usually like to have responses on some form of written hard-copy, such as a printed out e-mail or letter. The thought being that at least something in writing shows intent to accomodate the law. Would it actually do any good? ..... I don't know, but it sure should be better than internet forum opinions, or relying on some phone call to the DEC that can't be reproduced.

She was getting a little excited, wasn't she? I think I would be a bit freaked out too.